First Published: Workers Viewpoint Supplement, July 1977.
Transcription, Editing and Markup: Paul Saba
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“All Africa Is Standing UP!” shouted more than 850 demonstrators in Wash., D.C., under the banner of the African Liberation Support Committee on May 28, African Liberation Day (ALD) in support of African liberation struggles against white minority regimes, U.S. imperialism and social-imperialism of the Soviet Union.
Weathering attempts by the Revolutionary “Communist” Party to split it from within, the ALSC has organized its sixth successful ALD event and is on its way to rebuilding its revolutionary influence in the Afro-American movement and working class.
African Liberation Day, started by the African Liberation Day Coordinating Committee in 1972 (the forerunner of the ALSC) , is the traditional day of solidarity with the peoples of southern Africa fighting to regain control of their homeland from white colonialists and imperialists.
Since 1972, the ALSC has drawn more than 100,000 demonstrators, mainly Afro-Americans, to the street in militant support of the African people and against imperialism.
ALD ’77 carried on the revolutionary tradition of ALD and marked ALSC as a definite progressive trend building support for Africa, distinguishable from a variety of narrow nationalists, opportunists, and revisionists who claim to support African liberation.
Under the theme, “Full Support for the Liberation Struggles in Southern Africa / Opposition to Superpower War Preparations,” ALSC correctly built support for Africa within the context of the present world situation.
The ALD demonstration sharply hit both superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, as the two main enemies of the African people and oppressed peoples of the world, calling for “U.S./ U.S.S.R. Out of Southern Africa.”
The imperialist rulers of the Soviet Union masquerade as the “natural ally“ of the Third World people to cover its underhanded attempts to split liberation groups and gain an imperialist foothold in Africa. At the same time, the United States, shaking from its defeat by the Indochinese people, tries to clean up its imperialist image by claiming to support “majority rule,” “human rights,” and dangling Andrew Young out front to champion its call for a “rational” solution to the African struggles.
Both superpowers must get out of Africa. The African people refuse to trade one set of oppressors for another set wearing a socialist mask and, through armed struggle and self-reliance, will succeed in driving all imperialists to the sea!
It is the struggle between the two superpowers to control Africa and the rest of the world that gives rise to the danger of another world war. Thus, support for African liberation struggles must be tied to opposition to superpower war preparation. As the rising imperialist power, more greedy and ambitious, the Soviet Social Imperialists are the main source of war, and represent the main danger) to the African people and oppressed peoples of the world. However, the United States, more exposed in the eyes of the people because of its history of oppression and open support of fascist regimes as in southern Africa, has to be thoroughly routed arid kicked out of Africa!
This was reflected in the ALSC chants “U.S.-Soviets Grab For More, Push Us Into World War, The Masses Must Prepare!” and “Soviet Bosses Grab For More, Main Source of World War!”
Since its formation, the ALSC has struggled to advance its understanding of the nature of the oppression of the African people and link that to the oppression of Afro-Americans. Thus, the ALSC-led demonstration reflected the link between the struggles of the African people and the U.S. multi-national working class and oppressed nationalities in the overwhelmingly proletarian composition of the marchers. The stand of the working class with the African people and the oppressed peoples of the world shone through like a beacon, giving the ALD march a strong, revolutionary character.
Through sharp, lively agitational raps linking our struggle against U.S. imperialism here with the African peoples struggles, militant chants and stirring revolutionary songs, the ALD demonstration breathed life into the streets of D.C. where imperialist exploitation tries to choke the life out of the people. The ALD march flowed with the revolutionary spirit of the workers and oppressed nationalities, reflecting the certainty that the masses of people will end all oppression and liberate all mankind.
Marching through the, Afro-American community, the ALD marchers pointed out that it’s the same imperialist system which crowds working people and Afro-Americans into slum housing, drives us on to the street corner because we can’t find a job, or forces us to “crime” just to survive or to prostitution, to buy drugs to escape our oppression.
It’s the same imperialist system that pays African workers pennies a day for backbreaking labor, forced African people to carry a passbook in their own country and kills any African who resists this fascist repression. It’s the same enemy. So support for African people is support for our own struggle against imperialism.
The response from the people on the streets and in their homes hanging out windows was inspiring as almost everyone threw up a fist in solidarity, cheered the march, joined in the chants, or joined the march itself.
Passing through the notorious red light district of D.C., where the bourgeoisie has concentrated its spread of degenerate culture, drugs, and sex mania in an attempt to diffuse our revolutionary struggle, the demonstrators exposed imperialist oppression as the root cause. The ALD marchers chanted “Drugs, Porno, Prostitution, Won’t keep Us From Revolution.”
The march lasted almost three hours, yet the marchers, including children and elderly workers, maintained their enthusiasm and militancy throughout the long march and during the rally afterwards.
At the rally, a representative from the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) spoke about the rising liberation struggle in Zimbabwe, clearly hitting the imperialist maneuvers of both U.S. and Soviet Union and declaring that victory of the African people is near.
A solidarity message from the Workers Viewpoint Organization brought the crowd to its feet, putting forth the call for socialist revolution as the solution to exploitation of the workers and oppressed masses in the U.S., the only hope for an end to all exploitation by paving the way for communism. Also, the WVO representative linked our final goal of communism with the need for communist leadership of ALSC. Having emerged as the basis for the genuine Communist Party, the WVO is the only organization able to give correct communist leadership to the ALSC in particular and the entire U.S. multinational working class and oppressed nationalities in general. This is shown by its successful struggle against opportunists within ALSC, and its leading role in demarcating the ALSC from various misleaders.
Solidarity messages from the Iranian Students Association, Ethiopian Students of North America, Eritreans for Liberation in North America voiced the struggles of oppressed people throughout Africa and all over the world against imperialism.
Using new forms of struggle a collective from the West Coast called The Family (ML) performed a skit exposing the reactionary nationalism represented by Stokely Carmichael, and the May Day singers stirred the crowd with revolutionary songs.
The Revolutionary Youth League (RYL) hailed the fight of the African liberation fighters. It called on all revolutionary minded youth to join the RYL in channeling the vitality and strength of the youth into the struggle against capitalist oppression.
A solidarity message and poetry from the Revolutionary Communist League (RCL-MLM) linked the struggle to support Africa with the struggle for socialist revolution in the U.S.
An ALSC national steering committee member ended the rally by hailing the success of the ALD event in carrying on the revolutionary tradition of ALD and signifying the forward march of ALSC to rebuild itself as a nation-wide mass fighting organization.
ALSC workers and supporters around the country mobilized for the national demonstration in D.C. by drawing out the differences between the three ALD events. ALSC members drew out the narrow nationalism of the All African People’s Revolutionary Party and the opportunism of the “ALD Coalition” calling itself the ALDC creating confusion and pretending to be ALSC. ALSC is not afraid to explain its views to the masses and let the people judge it. Both opportunist groups depend on confusion and lies to pull the masses to their events. However, clarity is in the interest of the masses and ALSC, so ALSC members sought every opportunity to expose the two groups and put forth its program to support the liberation struggle.
Yet, the AAPRP and ALD Coalition ducked and ran every time. At the last minute, the AAPRP pulled out of a scheduled forum with the ALSC on a D.C. college campus. Also, in D.C. at an annual Malcolm X rally a week before ALD all three groups were on the program. Only the ALSC spoke to the masses of people about the sham character of the other two groups. The other two groups did not even mention all three ALD event, hoping to avoid struggle and build up the existing confusion.
Exposure of the opportunist forces continued during the ALD march. Passing by the site of the Stokely Carmichael AAPRP event, ALSC agitators laid out that the line of AAPRP effectively divides and weakens the-struggle of Afro-Americans, the multi-national working class and all oppressed people. It diverts the struggle of Afro-Americans away from U.S. imperialism. And by claiming that the core of the Black revolution is in Africa, it promotes passive acceptance of our oppression, because we aren’t in Africa. And Carmichael’s position that the Soviet Union is “socialist” shields Soviet Social Imperialism (socialist in words, imperialist in deeds) and directly aids the Soviet Social Imperialists’ plunder of the African people. “Stokely, AAPRP, Split Our Ranks for the Enemy,” called the ALSC marchers. Many honest Afro-Americans at the AAPRP event left and joined the ALSC march.
Within hearing distance of the ALD Coalition event, ALSC drew out the RCP, the true backer of the coalition hiding behind its intermediate organizations.
RCP tried to steal the revolutionary history and tradition of ALSC to worm its way into the Afro-American movement by covering up its historical chauvinist line on the Afro-American national Question and on ALSC. 8220;To Hell With You, RCP, You Can’t Split ALSC,” shouted the masses loud and clear.
Also, while it was using its front group, the Revolutionary Workers Congress, the RCP mutated and distorted the principles of unity of ALSC to let the Soviet Union off the hook. The opportunism of the RCP has been fully exposed in past issues of the WVO newspaper (see Vol. II, No.5).
The correct line of the ALSC had positive results. During its mobilization, ALSC concentrated on boldly putting out its line, relying on the masses to unite with the political views which correctly stand with their interests.
In Wash., D.C., leafleting teams handed out several thousand leaflets. Information tables were set up in strategic locations in Afro-American working class neighborhoods, and a sound truck circulated through the community giving agitational raps on the need to support the ALSC-Ied event.
Also, ALSC members spoke to churches, community and student organizations, conducted programs at workplaces and introduced resolutions .to endorse ALD in union meetings. This provided a good opportunity to further expose trade union misleaders who refused to support African struggles, who balked at identifying U.S. imperialism, and blocked all trade union resolutions supporting African liberation in spite of rank and file support.
Utilizing the superstructure to enhance the base work, ALSC made effective use of the media to lay out its views to a wide audience.
However, throughout the intense mobilization for ALD, the orientation remained to view ALD as an opportunity to deepen the ties of ALSC with the Afro-American community and working class, to consolidate a national core of ALSC members who would remain after ALD had come and gone and to train ALSC members in doing mass work, learning how to put out the line of ALSC, show the link between our struggles am actively involve the masses of people in support for African liberation.
ALD was a tremendous success in pushing forward the work of ALSC as well as building broad support for Africa.
The national ALD weekend also included a national conference, to further consolidate the ALSC and its supporters, unite still more firmly around a correct political analysis and program for the ALSC, and to raise the political understanding of all those who were involved. This was a further slap in the face to the opportunism of the Revolutionary Communist Party and the Revolutionary Workers Congress ALD Coalition who, while in the ALSC, tried to prevent the ALSC from having a conference on the same weekend of the demonstration.
Hundreds of ALSC supporters attended the different sessions sponsored by the ALSC.
On Friday night, approximately 125 people, mainly communists and forces that had studied Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tse Tung Thought, attended the session to participate in the discussion and debate on “How To Build Up The ALSC?” There were two presentations, one by the Workers Viewpoint Organization and one by the Revolutionary Communist League. Both were comradely and reflected a high degree of unity, struggle, unity. After the presentations, participants took part in a lively debate and discussion.
The WVO advanced definite programmatic views, particularly that of seeing the priority in the coming period as the building up of the ALSC chapters themselves in order to broaden out ALSC’s influence. This focus was necessary to strengthen the relatively new chapters and a way to ensure that the ALSC can maintain its independence and initiative in united front efforts.
The RCL, spent most of its time attempting to prove that the WVO is “hegemonic” for openly stating that it strives to lead the ALSC.
In defending the Leninist principle of “Partyism,” that is, the Party always strives to win leadership of mass organizations, the WVO drew a sharp distinction between assuming leadership by proclamation, and winning leadership on the basis of political correctness and correct methods of leadership and work.
In addition, the WVO refuted RCL’s cries of ”hegemony“ as petty bourgeois resistance to the WVO going all out to push forward the work of the ALSC, and a fear of being dominated by the correct line and leadership of the WVO – a line and leadership that is in the interest of the ALSC, developing it, and pushing it forward. If one organization, based on correctness of its theory and practice, was able to provide leadership, then this could only be viewed as a positive thing, in the interest of the ALSC, and, not as “hegemonic.”
This part of the session was fruitful, as many participants came to see that while adhering to the principled unity of the ALSC, communists always strive to give leadership, to bring more consciousness and organization to mass organizations.
On the other hand, the Friday night session could have been much more fruitful. The session was not able to go deeply into concrete programmatic views, which did not allow for many participants to become more clear on how they could definitely help to build up the ALSC in their local areas. This was due partly to RCL’s method of struggle. Blinded by their attempts to prove the WVO “hegemonic,” the RCL chose to struggle around every criticism and question that they had of the WVO, which objectively gave rise to debating “who said what, when and where?” This prevented many participants from engaging in discussion for large portion of the evening.
Saturday morning before the demonstration, several workshops on 1) the struggle in Zimbabwe, 2) the struggle in Angola, and the 3) struggle in Ethiopia- Eritrea, were attended by over one hundred people. These workshops definitely aided in bringing more clarity to ALSC supporters on the nature of the liberation struggles in Africa, the role of the two superpowers (particularly Soviet social-imperialism), and what should be the correct way to support those struggles.
Saturday evening, after the march and rally, the session for debate and discussion on the Principles of Unity for ALSC was unable to take place. The rally started late and did not end until close to 8, mainly because many buses arrived late due to sabotage by the bourgeoisie. The rally ended for dinner and for those who had a long ride home to start to leave. As a result, the conference could not get started until 9:30.
The National Steering Committee quickly met; and only after the discussion and agreement by the NSC to change the original agenda – due to necessity – was this recommendation put forth to the conference.
Part of the original agenda – the presentation and debate on the international situation – was postponed to allow the chair to layout the ALSC principles of unity to newcomers and to go into the proposed positive program of action for ALSC in the coming months.
This was a shortcoming, as over 350 people attended to participate and debate. Instead, the session adopted the steering committee resolutions on taking up the debate at the upcoming ALSC national conference, condemned the splitting and wrecking activity of the two other ALD functions, and united with the principles of unity and program put forward by the steering committee to guide the ALSC until the national conference.
Overall, the planned conference proved the correctness of the ALSC line of having a conference as well as a march and rally. This was a clear contrast to the two other ALD events, and showed that ALSC is contInuing its tradition of giving concrete support to the liberation struggles as well as providing forums and situations for debate and struggle, raising our political understanding of the serious questions that face us in carrying out support work.
To guide the ALSC until the national conference, the conference adopted these principles of unity:
1. Full support for national liberation movements in Africa and the Third World against imperialism, colonialism, hegemonism, Zionism, and all reaction.
2. Opposition to the two superpowers, U.S. and U.S.S.R., as the two main enemies of the world’s people and expose Soviet Social-imperialism as the main danger to the world’s people and the main source of war.
3. Forge militant solidarity between the struggles of the working class and oppressed nationalities of the U.S. with oppressed nations, countries and peoples of the entire world.
4: Support democratic rights of all oppressed nationalities and national minorities in the U.S.
5. Build ALSC as a fighting mass, multi- national organization.
The programmatic thrust adopted are: 1) build national day of support for Zimbabwe, 2) publish a national newsletter, 3) commemorate the June 16 Soweto uprising in Azania, 4) promote speaking tours of representatives from southern Africa and Third World liberation movements, and 5) conduct local forums around African liberation struggles.
In summation, the ALD weekend represented a tremendous advance in the work of ALSC. Upholding its correct political views and leadership, the ALSC is again emerging as a strong force In the Afro-American movement and working class building support for southern Africa: and fighting U.S. and Soviet Social-imperialism.